Qatar Sprint Race and Main Event Grid Setting: Live Updates
Opening Notes
The author is about to begin to guide you through today's short race (2pm GMT) and grid-setting session (6pm).
Live Feed
Formation Lap Time
The starting lap has started.
Circuit Details
We have nineteen laps around the lengthiest track in Formula One, David Croft informs us.
Final Moments
The final countdown is on.
Racer Positions
One point in Max Verstappen's favour: his teammate Yuki Tsunoda is ahead of him by one place. It's improbable to interfere with Red Bull's main man.
Interview Updates
Sky interviewing Sky now: the analyst is at the Mercedes team.
Karun Chandhok is jumping ahead to 2026, speaking with Adrian Newey about his stepping up to the team team principal.
Grid Details
There are only 16 cars on the grid. It was another poor grid-setting session for the driver: following his result of 20th and last in the previous race, resulting in an eighth position in the main race, he did not manage to make it out of Q1 once more on the previous day. Ferrari have as a result adjusted to his car configuration and so he begins from the starting area.
The team's Stroll and the Alpine duo of Gasly and Franco Colapinto are all starting from the same position.
Driver Comments
"We take the experience for tomorrow," states Isack Hadjar, 11th on the grid. There will be a lot of that.
Constructors' Championship
It's not all about the individual championship: McLaren have run away with the team championship but Mercedes, with a forty-point advantage over Red Bull, are aiming to seal second place during this event. George Russell can assist in this goal from the front row, and Kimi Antonelli will begin immediately after Verstappen.
Previous Results
Oscar Piastri was victorious then – as he did last year, too. McLaren's Australian is going for a hat-trick.
Sprint Race Value
Right, just over twenty minutes remaining till the sprint race begins. Unless something goes wrong, its main importance is as an indication of future events, rather than significant in its itself, with just eight championship points awarded to the victor. However, the runner-up spot in this race was sufficient for the driver to claim the title in a prior season.
Max Verstappen claimed the championship after his teammate's accident of the short race.
